


The Choosing

by KattheSinisterAce



Series: Chaos Battalion and Their Beloved General [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Mando'a, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 15:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4965853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KattheSinisterAce/pseuds/KattheSinisterAce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time's running out. General Novhret much choose who to save: Commander Gavel or Strikeout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Choosing

Tari looks desperately between the two clones. She knows she can only save one of them, and she knows she needs to choose _now._

 _“_ Tar’ika.” She stares, wide-eyed at Gavel.

“NAYC!” she startles not just herself but both Gavel and Strikeout. “I–I’m going to save you. _Both.”_

 _“Tar’ika.”_ Tari has heard him angry before, but his anger has never once been turned towards her. “General Tari Novhret, you will leave me behind and save Strikeout.”

Now it’s Strikeout’s turn to glare at the Commander. “Shab’rudu.” he snapped. “Tari’s not going to leave you and neither am I.”

Gavel starts to laugh. It’s so at odds with the situation and it scares Tari.

“Gavel–” is all she’s able to say before he cuts her off.

“General Novhret. You know I’m not going to make it.” His voice is calm and tears well in her eyes.

She can feel Strikeout’s eyes on her as he asks quietly, “Oh, shab, _please_ tell me he’s only saying that so you’ll choose me.”

Tari feels hollow as she shakes her head. “No. He–Gavel’s right. I–” she’s beginning to cry now, the tears flowing down her cheeks.

Two pairs of arms engulf her and she sobs. She can hear Strikeout and Gavel murmuring something, but she’s too far-gone in fear, guilt and sorrow to hear properly.

She feels herself being carefully taken into only a single pair of arms, which clutch her tightly to a chest. She knows which it is that holds her so securely.

The last thing she hears him say breaks her heart. She knows, too, that it’s breaking Strikeout’s heart to walk away from the man they both love.

_“Gar su’cuyi, ni ash’amu. Gar partayli, ni darasuum.”_

**Author's Note:**

> The last line is a slight reworking of the Mando'a remembrance of the dead: Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum. I am still alive, you are dead, I remember, you are forever.  
> The reworked line means: You are alive, I am dying. You remember, I am eternal.


End file.
